Truth beyond the lies...

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Thread description: Plot related Specific users: None
Special conditions: Arrancar resu. Forme (permitted)
Special conditions2: Shinigami shikai (permitted)
Objectives: Investigate the ancient chamber / confirm the whereabouts of the hogyoku shard(s)

Somewhere in a deserted area in the middle of Hueco Mundo, a sand storm blew across a large dune which collapsed revealing a hidden ‘chamber’ leading underground. It’s been long deserted, and is now falling into ruin. Inside can be heard the far off sounds of water droplets falling into shallow pools, and well as the eerie whirling of the wind through the dimly lit halls and passages. Recently, a number of powerful hollows have been spotted wandering the chamber’s once deserted halls. There have also been reports of a hogyoku shard possibly being hidden deep within the chamber.

Running into Loki at the intersection she stops,struggling to remain standing."Nh.I-I'm fine..just..no,never mind.We found the shard..I have it..but..something seemed off.Let's go find Shiro..if we are all here..he should have been as well..something.." Growing serious she murmurs,"..something must have happened.." Hurrying down the corridor Shiro took she stops short,running into a wall blocking further progress."What in the world..?Why is this here?..They must have passed through somehow.." Becoming even more worried she draws her zanpakuto,trying to slash through.Her blade sinks in halfway,leaving only a deep gash,"Ok..need something stronger.."

Conciousness rapidly slipping, Shiro begins to feel his strength drain away as Destadi continues to pull out his soul, '.......no..... gotta... stay.... awake..... gotta...!' managing to break through the immence pain, Shiro firmly grasps his zanpakuto and slashes out at Destadi's face.

Surprised when Shiro suddenly lashes out with his zanpakuto, Destadi drops his hold on Shiro and jumps back to avoid the slash. He skids back and watches shiro warily, 'tch.... he broke free.....damn it..' he turns to look at the pale blue swirling aura in his right hand, and grins with evil satisfaction. 'heh..... perhaps... I was unable to claim all of it.... but, this is enough to suffice.' He turns away and glances over to one of the large ledges along the wall. 'mm... it shouldn't take long for someone to sence what has transpired here...' He sonidos up to a large rocky ledge overlooking a huge dark pool of water, and abruptly sits down before reclining on his back smiling slyly.

Kyuri jumps upright and goes over to help Uriko to her feet before following after Loki, upon reaching the intersection, she gives Altria a alarmed look, "hey... what's wrong? you look like a ghost...." she pauses and turns and stares in the direction of the far right corridor, detecting what seems to be a fading or unbelievebly low spirit signature. she follows Altria and studies the wall with a knowledgeable look. "I know what could break this...." she draws her Zanpakuto, "You ..... may want to stand back....." pointing her Zanpakuto at the wall. Kyuri chants an incantation, "stars signal the fall of night..... silent paws touch the earth, and the bell's toll shall be your cry.... Youjutsu!" her sword transforms into a giant golden bell attached to a long chain on the end of a small rod. "This'll do it." She swings the bell and it crashes through the wall, opening the sealed passage.

Sencing the feeling of dread, uriko shivers uncomfortably. "......... Something..... isn't right here......." she pauses feeling a bit anxious, ".......something doesn't feel right at all." she draws Tsukiryu, and waits patiently, not wishing to be the first one to go into the corridor.

Shiro hits the ground hard when Destadi released his hold around his neck, he weakly gets to his feet and sways staggering back a few steps before dropping to his knees. '....damn.... I...... ....can't.....go....on...' he falls sideways letting go of Fenikkusu, his reiatsu drops to a dangerously low level, while his breathing becomes labored and rather shallow. Blood trickles from his wounds forming small pools, he blinks slowly, his vision starting to blur. '..... ........ damnit......... Dest... adi.......... why......' Shiro's bright blue eyes become a duller color, almost a misted bluish-grey. He closes his eyes, and attempts to conserve the last of his energy.

Looking at the bell shaped zanpakuto she studies it for a moment with interest."That's an interesting shikai you have there,Kyuri.Really unique."Staring at the broken through wall she shivers,wave of pain receding somewhat and her senses clearing up.Picking up Shiro's spirit signature suddenly diving dangerously low she hurries through the opening and into the corridor without hesitation. Inspecting signs of a fight,slashes and kunai strewn about,she picks up one to get a better look."This is..Shiro's.." With all of her worries and dread colliding together she goes pale,dropping the kunai and flash stepping forward,heartbeat accelerating.'Please..please..don't let it be true..please..just this once,let my suspicions and instinct be wrong..please..' Rushing into the room,her eyes immediately focus on fallen form on the floor."Shiro!" Dropping to her knees near him her eyes widen at the sight of his injuries,"What..but..this is..same..same places I've felt pain..?" Pushing confusion away Altria tries to heal his wounds but feeling something off with him is so shaken she only manages to stop the bleeding."Shibu..Shibu-kun wake up!!.." Worried she turns around,facing in Destadi's direction,having been ignoring his presence till now.Pale and troubled,her eyes narrow,face setting into a tense look that shows barely controlled anger."Destadi...what have you done to him?!!"

Destadi sits upright and moves to sit on the edge of ledge, he smiles slyly and snickers. "mm hm hm....." he doesn't say anything for a long while, before smiling. "... hee hee... he'll live.... don't worry about it..." he stares at Altria with a mischievous look.

Getting angrier at his evasive answer she stands up,eyes narrowing further. Clutching her zanpakuto tightly she glares,demanding,"Answer me Destadi. What the bloody hell have you done to Shiro?Answer!" In reaction to her emotions her reiatsu rises slowly.

Destadi stares at Altria slyly before holding up what appears to be a pale blue glowing aura. Smiles he tosses it into his mouth and swallows it whole. He let's out a satisfied sigh. "hhaah...." he smiles slyly and looks rather content.

Eyes locked on the blue aura,giving off a familiar feeling she's come to know well, her eyes widen when he eats it.'That..that couldn't have been...no..no..please no..' Turning pale as a ghost and looking horrified Altria prays that her suspicion is wrong,demanding in a shaky voice that rises in panic,"W-What was..that..aura... what did you just eat?What did you JUST EAT?"

Smiling slyly Destadi merely replies, "mm.... nothing important.... at least... not to you anyway..." he jumps off the ledge and lands gracefully in front of the dark pool of water, his eyes glinting with a malicious light.

Getting more and more frustrated and angry she winces at the tingling sensation in right eye,ignoring it.Reiatsu climbing further and beginning to swirl around her feet the ledge he was sitting on suddenly topples over into the water,cut into pieces.Glaring at Destadi with a murderous look Altria point her zanpakuto at him, growling,"What the bloody hell did you JUST EAT?? Answer me or by Kami..."

Destadi smiles in a calm manner, "hm hm hm..... that..." he pauses smirking, "was.... shiro's soul.... or... most of it anyway.... mm hm hm hm hm.." his look returns to a calm but still mischievous evil one.

Shocked,she freezes in place,turning white.Heart almost jumping out of her chest she struggles to get a breath in,shaking. "His..s-soul..?" Suddenly disappearing in a shunpo she appears right near him,grabbing Desta by the front of his top tightly.Shaking him desperately her voice jumps between demanding and pleading,."Spit it out!!Spit it out this instant!!Do it!Now!Spit..it..out!!Please..Give It BACK!!!!"

Destadi just smiles as altria shakes him, "sorry..... that's..... nont going to happen.... it's NEVER going to happen." he grabs her shoulder and throws her back near shiro.

Catching herself she skids to a stop near Shiro.Looking at him for a long moment and kneeling down she holds him close trembling,tears rolling down her face silently.Looking at him she gets a flash back of holding him in a similar way as he faded away, after Mikiru's attack.'I promised..but it still happened anyway.. why..why can't I ever keep these promises..how pathetic..'With a sudden sharp pain flaring in her chest another image rises before her eyes,someone looking just like Shiro,covered in blood,in her arms.Feelings of despair,loneliness,loss,anger and hatred surge through her,remembered from both times.Letting out a pained sound Altria goes quiet as her reiatsu rapidly becomes infused with black,swirling wildly around her.Placing Shiro down gently she stands up slowly,picking up her zanpakuto off the floor.Releasing chant flows from her lips in a whisper,"Fight to survive,destroy to protect,kill to live. Shout in defiance and show them hell,Tsukiyomi!!" Zanpakuto changing shape with release of more reiatsu something seems to change about her,reiatsu brimming with despair,hatred,rage,bloodlust..Slowly turning and looking up she locks gazes with Destadi,a fleeting glimpse of something else moving behind her eyes.In a voice that sounds somehow wrong, lower,malicious.. and sneering she growls,"Then I'll just have to force it out of you,trash."

Destadi smiles when Altria declares to force Shiro's soul out of him, "oh? you will? mm hm hm hm..... let's dance.... Shinigami." he pulls off the arm-wrappings revealing the kanjis for 'Poison' and 'Tiger' he makes a stance, "Let's hunt..... Kaisatora." there's a swirl of maroon reiatsu, Destadi's form changes and becomes a Skeleton-like undead Sabor-tooth tiger, a long bony tail with a three pronged barb at the end appears, as well as a Sabor skull on his head. deadly looking claws appear on his hands and feet, but overall, making him appear like the perfect hunter. "all right..... come at me.."

Watching his transformation silently she smiles grimly."So...this is your true form.. how appropriate." Wincing as sudden wave of hot pain rolls over her back and unknown to her the wings tattoo changes to a different shape Altria seems more herself.Shaking her head to clear it she lifts her blade slightly,staring at Destadi calmly."I'd like to understand something before..why?Why are you doing this?Isn't...all the years..aren't you two friends?" Clutching her blade tightly she tries to remain calm, anger bubbling up.

Uriko runs over to Shiro, and shivers at his low reiatsu. "Shiro-kun...!" she gathers her reiatsu to her hands and uses a healing kido to mend his wounds. Finishing the healing she touches her index finger to his wrist checking to see if he has a pulse. '....... please...... don't be....... please...' sighing in relief, she looks up still a bit worried. " 'Neesan..... he's still alive...... but... barely...."

Running into the room Loki stops short watching Destadi transform into lethal looking, impressive form. "Holy frack!!" Seeing Shiro on the ground unconscious and Altria ready to battle,something strange about her Loki draws Raijin,unsure what's going on or what to do."Altri-chan?..What the hell is happening here?What's wrong with Shiro?"

Destadi smiles slyly at Altria, "Friends? oh please...." he licks one of his claws before continuing, " hee hee hee..... you really are naive..... let me put this bluntly...." He pauses then smiles evilly, "I KILLED SHINOBIMARU 140 YEARS AGO!!!" He laughs maniacally before stopping, "and.... finally, I've captured his soul... or.... most of it.... you see... he broke lose and managed to save himself momentarily from death.... but... as I see it... you can only prolong the inevitable for only so long..."

Kyuri runs over to Shiro and looks shocked, "....'Niisan...." she stares in silence as visions from her past flash through her mind, she glances up when desta declares that he was responsible for her brother's death 140 years ago. "y-you... y-you......" she quivers, but shows no signs of crying.

Some tension easing from her shoulders at Uriko's words she gives a short nod. " Good..keep him safe." Glancing at Loki as he runs in she returns her gaze to Destadi,speaking quietly,"His soul..most of it..was stolen.I am getting it back.." Listening to Destadi she grows pale,eyes widening. "You..that was..you?" Reiatsu rising and turning blacker,a dark look coming over her face,Altria looks pained for a moment wincing,unaware her seal turned brighter color.A black,shadowy circle forms beneath her feet without incantation or form performed.Gazing at Desta darkly at slight motion from her wrist a number of dark spears rise from the circle,firing at him.At same time she raises her blade readily,disappearing in shunpo,moving to a new location on one of the ledges.

Anticipating Altria's actions, Destadi dodges the spears, and sonidos to the Ledge she landed on. He round house kicks altria while raking her back with his razor sharp claws, a slow paralyzing poison injects into her blood stream. "heh... this is going to be all to easy.." he then lashes out with his right claw slashing her shoulder, while at the same time throwing her of the ledge to one of the dark pools below.